The present invention relates to a high-top athletic or leisure shoe of the type commonly called a basketball shoe and used particularly for playing that sport.
Playing basketball submits the ankles of the player to violent stresses, due particularly to the many movements of extension involved, which are followed by sudden contact with the ground, and to the many starts for dribbling or running, which are followed by sudden stops.
It is therefore important to have shoes that ensure adequate support for the foot in the ankle area, over both the inner and outer malleolus, while also providing protection against direct shocks by means of appropriate padding.
Accordingly, shoes with reinforcing and/or tightening strips extending more or less horizontally across the shoe-top have been proposed.
Nevertheless, the shoes thus produced do not provide sufficient support for the foot and, in practice, players continue to use ankle supports or support strips inside their shoes.